Tag Archives: YouTube

SEO Tip: Content Is King

Never less, always more. Don’t revise when you can expand. Do, don’t re-do, unless you feel that you absolutely must and if you have to re-do then add more than before.

That’s all very passionate but what does it look like in practical terms?

I’ll tell you:

That blog you’re not posting to? Going forward, load it with pictures. Every picture has a TITLE, an ALT tag (HTML for ALTernative text) a CAPTION and those TITLES, ALT tags and CAPTIONS include your keyword phrases appropriately and naturally.

Communicate your product or service visually. Show what you do. You can use before and after pictures, pictures of your staff, pictures of your products, pictures of happy customers and any other pictures you like that show off your work.

If a client is delighted with the your product or service, ask if it’s OK if you shoot a video of their testimonial for your YouTube channel. Clients are usually flattered that you asked and say yes. It’s OK if the video is not pro shot – actually, by survey a testimonial video has more credibility if it’s not pro shot.

While you’re talking to that happy Customer (which is fun because they love you) you can ask “Do you know anyone who might benefit from our services?”

Put the testimonial video on YouTube and I can optimize and popularize your video. Putting a link to a YouTube video on your blog will display your video in your blog and by including video it’s not just picture – picture – picture – picture etc.

When I say “you” above, I don’t literally mean you. Delegate as you see fit (sales people, marketing people, what have you).

You don’t need to take down old content, you can start using your existing blog for pictures and video without any announcement to do so.

It is my distinct pleasure to present Special Guest Blogger Doug Hay, [email protected], CEO of Doug Hay & Associates. Visit Doug’s company website at http://www.doughayassoc.com for more information on effective small business internet marketing.

12 Reasons To Use Video As Part Of Your Small Business Marketing by Doug Hay

Video viewings have exploded in recent years and can be a highly effective sales tool that can be incorporated into a small business Internet marketing program.

Windows XP came with some basic video editing software, Windows Movie Maker. You can drag and drop movies or JPEGs into Windows Movie Maker.

If you use text in your JPEGs, I suggest that you use a musical soundtrack instead of a voiceover. Having one set of words on the video while the voiceover says different things is not a pleasant experience for the viewer.

Use your own JPEGs and music to avoid copyright violations or intellectual property infringement. Play a musical instrument? Know someone in a band? Or troll the net for music in the public domain.

Another way to go is to write a script, point a camera at yourself and have at it. I read through the script a couple of times to get comfortable then do 2 or 3 takes until it’s acceptably right (going for “perfect” may overshoot what’s needed here).

My approach to YouTube promotional video is get it done, get it uploaded, get it popularized and take a new look at it before doing the next one. Resolve to make the next one “better” whatever that is – more polished, more professional, more compelling, prettier.

Taking a couple of hours to do a video which is now online is infinitely better than planning or working on a video that is not online.

Quantity now is much more important than perfection later in my humble opinion and I think my 4 example videos demonstrate that.

Doing two 60 – 90 second videos, then uploading them to YouTube can be done inexpensively. A PowerPoint slide show plus voiceover, video touring around your facilities with voiceover, or a simple “talking head” these are not costly or difficult.

Once you’ve got a video, if you like some things about it and you don’t like other aspects, I recommend that you upload it to YouTube now. Waiting for a perfect video invites procrastination. Just resolve to make your next video better.

It is a great pleasure to present Special Guest Blogger Bruce Wiseman, [email protected] author and Master Marketer. Visit Bruce’s company website at http://www.ontargetresearch.com for more information on the benefits available for your company with correct use of the technology of Marketing and Positioning.

The Menu by Bruce Wiseman

I stepped outside my Chicago hotel last week into a piranha-like wind with icicle teeth.

The only reason I left the 75 degree sunshine of La La land was to do a couple of television shows there to promote my book on the financial crisis.

The marketing campaign around the book (Crisis by Design The Untold Story of the Global Financial Coup) has been enlightening.

We are using two major marketing initiatives to promote it. The first is a traditional media-based PR campaign which involves radio interviews on stations across the country. Big, small, nationally syndicated or local news talk, I have been on the phone at all hours of day and night. Book sales are responding.

And, there is the occasional television appearance as in the land many winds noted above. The media campaign is being run by good friend, Marsha Friedman’s company, Event Management Services ( http://emsincorporated.com).

We took a look at Google Analytics (a free service provided by the Lord of the Internet at http://www.google.com/analytics/ that focuses a digital microscope on your website traffic and gives you the kind of analysis that makes the marketing Gods smile.) While we could see the bump in the number of people visiting the site from radio shows (let’s hear it for talk radio), overall, the traffic driven to the site from social media – blogging, Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn – exceeded the media driven visitors.

The point here is not to shy away from traditional PR, no, no – especially if you are an author. The point is that I had considered social media a step child in the campaign until I looked at the numbers.

It’s not that I didn’t know social media was valuable. Indeed, the shift in the media landscape in recent years and the power of social media to attract customers has been is a major reason that we have expanded our menu of services. Indeed, like a customer in a fine Chinese restaurant you can now select one or more services from the following menu. We can do it all, but if so, you better man up your phones, as you are likely to get a serious influx of traffic.

I do some of these personally, and for some I bring in professional associates who have proven their chops with me and my clients time and again.

SURVEYS. The house specialty. Our signature offering. We have been conducting surveys of customers and prospects for companies large and small for a quarter of a century. We are very good at it. Pricing on these vary depending on the public to be surveyed and the size of the job.

ONLINE SURVEYS. We also conduct online surveys, made much easier these days if you have an email data base of your clients, or prospects or can get one. Here we can create the survey, post it on line and write an invitation for you to send out with a link to the survey. We tabulate the results and provide an analysis with recommendations based on the results.

Analysis and recommendations, I might add, that are honed with the experience of a quarter of a century of professional expertise.

Surveys will provide you with the feedback from your clients and prospects that will enable you to build a powerful foundation for your marketing campaign/s. Cost, $1475. Timing, about 2 weeks.

VIDEOS. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth…countless thousands.

Videos can tell your story driving your message into the minds of your customers in ways nothing else can. Videos can be posted on your website, on YouTube, and / or sent as video clips to your customers or prospects via email. I work with a professional video producer. COST $1,000.

SOCIAL MEDIA. If you don’t have a social media presence, you should. It is where the world of marketing and PR live today. We can arrange for you to get set up on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and others. Not only will you have a presence on those sites, but we will arrange to have a social media press kit built for you like the one below, which is not only a mini website about your business in the guise of a business card, it can also contain a video. This entire package is available for $399.

We also have access to seriously expanded social media services if you are in need of a great deal more kick on the Internet.

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT. If you want someone to manage your social media sites (whether we have had them built for you or you have put it up yourself), we can arrange for that service as well, with pricing dependent on how aggressive you want be on your campaigns.

So, that’s the menu. The dessert comes after we’ve done the work and you have increased your sales.

If we can be of service to you in any of these areas, please let me know via any of the contact channels noted below.

And if there is any other service in the area of surveys or marketing or social media that you are in need of, but don’t see above, let me know. We may be able to provide them for you or, if not, refer you to someone who can.